Sucks, but small reward, when you post something here, get flamed, and then

[Laura PourMeADrink]

someone who I think everyone loves says the same thing on national TV!

Jill Wine Banks just said on the 11th hour that Trump's repetitive propaganda is working. And, until the press and Democrats stand up and combat it - his strategy will work.

[msongs]

1. trump is just being the person he is 24/7. and dems...the same. dems need to

shift gears. how bout a die - in on the steps of congress?

[saidsimplesimon]

4. A "die-in" would beat

a die out?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

8. How about something super simple..just having a schedule for every day of who

will get on each network each day and refute last night's crazy talk ? Goal: come up with a competing headline so that at least a handful of voters will it see it? We are dealing with a master propgandist here and we have no rebuttal.

[saidsimplesimon]

2. Laura

Karma..I agree with you and Jill Wine Banks on this. It grates.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

10. What's the karma? That we lose again to

Prove a point? It happened once. It could happen in 2020 again. Won't have a country left by 2026.

[saidsimplesimon]

66. OK

I have a glass of wine, poured my own.

"karma" imho will happen when we get off our couches, me included, and defeat these monsters in 2018 and move on to 2020 to remove the yellow/orange stain on our democracy.

What's with all the negativity being floated?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

71. I absolutely love your/our goal ! Could not have said it better ! Negativity? Much

less than usual, no ?

[Wwcd]

3. The Democrats have stood up. The press is the problem.

THE PRESS IS STILL THE FKING PROBLEM.

Did Jill Wine Banks have MSM turned off for the last 3 years?

[ecstatic]

13. Not sure I believe that. If Pelosi,Schumer, etc. hold pressers, the media

shows up. I remember one day they were very effective in holding a presser and pushing back on trump. That only happened one time. They never did it again. SMFH

[Wwcd]

41. Sure the media shows up. And their message is beaten to a negative by every flapping jaw on TV

The Media is the problem.
Not the message from the Dems.

[elocs]

26. Trump also says the press is the problem. Nice company you keep there.

And I'm pretty sure you can saying 'fucking' here without violating our delicate sensibilities.

[maxsolomon]

52. it's a different problem being described.

trump is pre-emptively discrediting the MSM.

we're begging them to stop pretending that neutrality is possible, and embrace objectivity.

of course, some have, but those voices are getting lost in the maelstrom.

[Cha]

27. Yeah, it's on the M$M.. normalizing trump

and pushing that "normal" down America's throat.

All his gd LIES and FAKE tweets calling our FBI evil or whatever.

No way would he be "winning" WITHOUT the gd US M$M.

[Greybnk48]

38. +1000! n/t

[lunatica]

5. The same has happened to me quite a few times.

Once when I said Trump would never stop and that the only way to stop him was for people to stop him one way or the other and my thread was shut down because I was supposedly instigating assassinating him. Now it looks like I was right on.

So one needs to just dust oneself off and nevertheless persist.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

9. Ya...you can only dust yourself off so many

times before you just say it's a lost cause. It is just so strange and suspicious that a forum is so filled with people who never ever want to engage in any form of constructive criticism of the party they love. And we even have proof. His constant chant of Hillary's a crook worked and yet still...nothing the party is doing needs improvement??

[lunatica]

11. We bounce back because we have to

Plus, today it looks like the Democrats are coming up with party platform for the next six months. They aren’t just going to rely on not being Republicans. That’s good news.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

17. I suppose. Thanks. Hope I am totally shocked

But there is absolutely nothing new about what we stand for...decency and caring about fairness and those less fortunate - those beliefs stand the test of time. What's different is the environment...digital age.. effective messaging in this era ...what needs to change.

[lunatica]

19. But there is something new in all

the New Democrats running in so many states for the first time. The Democrats in Washington are also paying attention and they know they’re going to get primaried too if they do business as usual.

The whole world is paying attention. Probably more than most Americans.

[calimary]

25. Don't forget, too, that our bench strength is increasing.

Anybody see/hear the victorious Democrat in the Georgia gubernatorial primary? Stacey Abrams? Powerful speaker, with heart, conviction, and fortitude. Plus a sense of warmth, humanity, and the common touch. Said not a word about “vote for us, we’re NOT trump/GOP.” She made me proud to be a Democrat. I wanted to stand a little taller.

https://www.theroot.com/stacey-abrams-wins-big-in-georgia-and-now-has-a-shot-at-1826246914/amp

[Laura PourMeADrink]

40. Yes ! And Beto too. His strategy is not to trash Trump supporters but to appeal

to the basic values he knows are in there somewhere. He has gone to towns in Texas that are scarlet red - and the people have listened to him - and he has treated them with respect. And they have told him that no one has ever been there to ask them how they feel.

IMHO - great strategy. Long term strategy. Just hope we aren't too late and that there won't be a point of no return to reverse all the damage Trump and GOP have caused.

[calimary]

49. See, that's a real breakthrough.

I recall seeing reports that this is the FIRST election in which every - repeat, EVERY congressional election has had a Democrat in the running. Too many of these districts, particularly the red ones, had GOPers - incumbents and otherwise - running unopposed. For FAR too long, Democrats in those districts had no choice whatsoever. You wanna talk about alienated, unmotivated, apathetic voters?!

I do remember when Howard Dean, as the then-new chair of the DNC, immediately started implementing his 50-State Strategy. Personally. He personally went to these states, and then talked about all the Dems he met who were starving for attention from the national party, reach-outs, support, funding, involvement. Some of these people, he said, had been almost literally screaming for help, only to be ignored by the national party. These folks were finally getting some help. That was after he took over in 2005.

And guess what happened? In 2006 the Dems roared back, taking back the House and giving us the first female Speaker of the House - Nancy Pelosi. And under his leadership, Dems followed up with an equally epic and historic victory in 2008. Not only keeping the House of Reps but winning back the White House too. The 50-State Strategy worked. And paid many many dividends. We can’t afford to let up on that.

Howard Dean recognized that there were/are Democrats EVERYWHERE! Even in the red states. And we ignore or overlook them and their needs at our peril.

[murielm99]

24. I sympathize.

We have both been here about the same length of time. It has happened to me many times. It hurts, and I don't know what to tell you. People do this because of the anonymity of the internet, and the strong feelings politics evoke.

I am sorry.

I think things got worse when Obama ran for President the first time. Anyone who dared to support another candidate risked being banned. I stopped speaking my mind as much then, and have not been nearly as outspoken since.

Do you belong to a local Democratic party, are you active at all? I don't know what else to tell you.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

33. Beto !!! And we think he has a good chance! nt

[Laura PourMeADrink]

42. I think the biggest untapped potential is the power DU could have

to affect change, elections, the news cycles. Just by our sheer numbers.

In my dream world, we'd harness the intelligence, wit, and ideas of so many here and put it to use. Look how the boycotts worked against Laura Ingram - look how the kids from Parkland organize to make people change.

We could gather a hundred ideas for great ads and great comebacks and get them to the people who need them. We could swamp a twitter accounts of Fox advertisers or specific GOP targets.

[calimary]

50. THIS!!!!!!

Why not? Why The Hell Not?

We’ve got a massive talent pool here. An energized talent pool too.

Outreach.
Rapid response.
Advocacy.
Fact-checking - the noisier the better.
Aggressive counter-programming - being there to call in to hate radio and C-SPAN. and elsewhere in media to keep OUR talking points out there in the public square; writing letters to the editor and guest commentaries; marches, sit-ins at representatives’ local/regional/national offices. NOT being silent OR invisible. Organizing - the way the Indivisible movement does.

We’ve actually got a rather impressive and potentially powerful infrastructure already built just here within DU. Might be a tool well worth using!

[Arazi]

43. +1000 Eom

[TeamPooka]

6. Banana Republicans need to stand up.

[lunatica]

7. They are standing up FOR him

Unfortunately for our country.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

16. They want the Koch and Ricketts campaign money

Last edited Wed May 23, 2018, 07:44 PM - Edit history (1)

So they will shut up and go along. What we've discovered is that many in the GOP pay lip service to the Republic and the Constitution, but only really love capitalism and America's military power.

[ecstatic]

12. I've been saying something similar for months

and get flamed as well. Democrats are way TOO FUCKING NICE IN THE FACE of this shit. Start shouting. Start getting mad. FFS! If our elected politicians don't seem pressed or concerned, why the f*ck would Americans who are casually observing the drama worry?!?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

22. Perfect example...the Hillary emails. There were

Legitimate defenses and outrages that could have been screamed from the rooftops.. yet not a peep..and the GOP filled the void.

[Wwcd]

45. Considering the massive & fair (sarcasm) coverage of Clinton's stellar platform by MSM throughout

the campaign of 2015/16, I just cannot understand why the Dems were so silent either!


Good lord..
THE PROBLEM WITH 'DEM SILENCE' WAS THE MEDIA.
Hard to believe after all we now know, people are still yelling at the Dems.
They were silenced. And that was by design.

Woosh!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

47. Out of curiosity...how do the networks book guests? Can anyone - like Schumer, say

call and say I want to be on MoJoe? Does Fox tell Dems no? Do Dems or party leaders organize/track media appearances at all? Is someone saying "holy shit, this just happened" and have a call list to get someone to refute? Or do the networks look for someone and call?

[Wwcd]

48. In a perfect and fair world that's how it should work. But in case anyone missed it

2015/16 & to this day, was intentionally designed to silence the positive of the Dems & promote the negative lies that flooded the media by Team Trump.
Anyone viewing MSM TV, or social media & even here on DU from what I am told, was well aware of the game being played by Putin's global crime syndicate.


I can't believe I even have to say this.

Bye

[CrispyQ]

58. The dems have been whining about media bias since the early W days.

Does it exist? Sure. So the dems have to fight harder to get on the air & get their message heard. They are US Congresspersons, ffs. Grab a camera person, go to the studio, & demand to be put on the air. And if the network says no, post the video of it. I can't believe the excuses we have to avoid fighting. The perception that the dems are weak is real.

[Wwcd]

59. Haaaahaaaahaaaaa!! "Grab a camera , go to the studio!!"

Oh ya that'll make for a great breaking news headline as the RW purchased Sinclair/Murdoch Media puts their own predictable mockery spin on it.

You haven't noticed the tools they use to discredit the righteous who are NOT shilling in lock step for them?

Gdmmit!
MEDIA IS THE PROBLEM.
You don't get it, still? After all we know?

If the MSM was truly interested in giving a voice to the Dems, we'd have someone other than Trump as president.

MEDIA IS THE PROBLEM.
MEDIA DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT.

JFC

This is the reason the Dems have chosen the grassroots path to voting out Repubs in Nov.
And they are doing just what they expected.
Proof was evident last night, elections.

Maybe STOP whining at the Dems and join the only fight we have left. That is our primary & Midterm elections.

That's where you'll find the Dems. Last night Stacey Abrams had the speech that defines what we are doing to save this country.
And still today I hear.."why dont the Dems barge into a studio with a camera &" ....and what?
When Media IS THE PROBLEM, we find another way around them.

Join us or step aside.
Wtf ever

WHEN MEDIA STOOD DOWN & PROTECTED TRUMP, REFUSED TO GIVE THE DEMS A VOICE, WE FOUND ANOTHER WAY.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

64. Educate us ! You are saying there was/is a massive

effort to diminish us and that ptb select what we hear/heard. And that there is nothing we can do about it except_____

What is the ________? And why is anything else futile?

I work from home and have news on all day...I would say that CNN and MSNBC are 90 percent against trump. Are you saying that will change come November? 2020?

[Wwcd]

65. Where were they all when we had 24/7 Trump promo TV shoved in our faces.

They are NOW showing his bad side?
Gee thanks for nothing.

MSM is playing to an audience.
Dems are not allowed much of a voice because that is just who MEDIA is.. its a business beholden to its investors.
They showed themselves in Trumplandia in 2016.

They don't give a shit other than their bottom line and keeping their investors happy.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

68. You are right! They adorized him

We have to figure out a way for us. A way that media can't ignore. What if we "owned" their sponsors? Not literally but with constant grass roots pressure?

[karynnj]

73. Long ago, I was told by someone who was more connected than me that any "get"

and Schumer would definitely be a "get" can easily get onto TV whenever he/she would like, but they strategically limit when they are on. In the case of a sitting Senator, there are likely sometimes when the path to success is working quietly behind the scenes with other Senators. At those times, a public appearance might not be helpful and could even hurt. Other times, the path to success is ralling the public -- and that is when the "right" people will be out in force. By the "right" person, it will be someone who is on the right committee or is respected on that issue.

Morning Joe and most cable shows love having top people on because it makes their shows better and themselves more important.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

74. Thanks ! I remember before pc in full force...used

to watch Imus. Think he was the original mojoe. Then it was cool to be on there. I agree with everything you said..
But think it applies to a normal environment.. not in Trump era. It just feels like there is no strategy. As we watch his polls return to post election and generic ballot lead shrink.

[Maraya1969]

29. +1,000

[ProudLib72]

14. This is interesting because I've noticed a lot more threads about the need for Dems to stand up

And I haven't seen as many posts poo pooing the idea. In fact, I just posted in one this afternoon. So the real question is, How far behind DU are our congress people?

[Algernon Moncrieff]

15. The "Wrap this up" line works because Muller's infotainment value is falling.

No juicy indictments have dropped lately.

Trump, like many in the GOP, is very good at painting himself as a victim.

The Dow being up is helping, as well as the perception that he is making headway with China and Korea.

The Dems need a new line of attack on the President's policies, and clearer, more declarative statements on who we stand with and what we stand for.

Sorry you got flamed. You (as your handle indicates) have been around since the fights of 10 + years ago.

[pecosbob]

18. If no one heard anything but Stalin's voice

then what he said was gospel. Dems better find a voice pretty damn quick or we will be living in a world of horror. Cede control of government to them for another four years and police will be arresting people because some Palantir-like algorithm tells them you're likely to commit a crime. Very Philip K. Dick type stuff.

[BlueTsunami2018]

20. One thing he knows is mass manipulation.

We are in deep, deep trouble.

[AdamGG]

21. Lost one of our best spokespeople in Al Franken

He was superb in the confirmation hearings. His presence is missed in pointing out Dump and the R's absurdity/mendacity with scathing wit. It's probably why he was targeted.

[SoCalDem]

31. which was precisely why someone suddenly was

so "traumatized" over a picture and suddenly many others remembered being equally traumatized.. in politics, nothing ever happens accidentally (especially when republicans are dishing it out)

Democrats have usually been more ready to eat our own...and gobble every last morsel

republicans know this..

[Laura PourMeADrink]

34. Only good outcome is that our accused resign

(albeit a great loss and actions probably like comparing a traffic ticket to murder) vs. GOP supported a pedophile in Alabama and a sexual preditor president.

But did anyone notice? Is this something u can even bring up?

[pioche4]

23. and what about what's happening now...

the orgy of enrichment that the trump clan is engaged in: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/prime-beta/the-trump-boys-are-likely-managing-an-orgy-of-corrupt-self-enrichment


great article on the NY swamp https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/predators-of-new-york

[Laura PourMeADrink]

44. Yes. The very least CNN and MSNBC could do would be to carve out a section

of their screen and just scroll all the "remember Trump/GOP horrors"

And, just because I know a bunch of wingnuts, since I live in Texas, enrichment is a great thing to focus on and raise awareness about since it is happening now. My wingnuts say this ALL the time.."I don't care what he did before he got elected." There are plenty of topics like this. Like dismantling regulations - treating them like they are this generic bad thing. Another example of perfect ad material...start with showing the rah-rah about dismantling a regulation and then move to the real effects - remember how your 401k took a nose dive because we weren't regulating? remember how the fish died in the gulf with the BP oil spill. Take each deregulation move and find things that could happen again because regulations are gone.

[Maraya1969]

28. You are probably right. That is why advertisers the same commercials over and over and

don't spread them out so much. I learned it when I had a little business.

Basically hearing a commercial once won't do anything. But if you hear it over and over it might have an effect.

Hopefully now that you and that other person just said this maybe the MSM will explain it.

And yea, I believe this person probably read your post and thought it was good insight.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

35. Ya except for those horrible Liberty Ins.commercials

In front of the Statue of Liberty...where the girl says she named her car Brad...have to mute. When is this company gonna run out of ad budget?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

39. Sucks SoCal....but that is an amazing percentage :)

Have often wondered if we, on our side, were subliminally affected by the constant barrage from the right against our own candidate. Like a dark cloud of "baggage" even though anyone would be hard pressed to make a list of actual things she did wrong.

[ravencalling]

32. Trump winning?

I believe Democrats have stood up, but it looks pale in comparison to the 24/7 shock jock news that comes from Trump's latest scandals.

It should come as no surprise then that what gets the highest ratings is a continual barrage of pointing fingers at the latest atrocity without any solutions and no-one standing up to it. Maybe they do, maybe they are, in a civilized follow the rules way, but that doesn't work when you are battling people who have discovered that they can just get away with not following the rules as long as they all stick together and decide the rules do not apply to them. Republicans have decided - lets be a dictatorship. This is their new formula. And as long as they all protect the dictator and thumb their noses at the law - who is going to stop them? Not people pointing and saying how horrible it all is. And not a Democratic party who thoughtfully brainstorms.. how can we win this game.. become more like them, appeal to people's common sense or sanity? Companies have decided that in order to survive in support of their profit agenda, they need access and bribery (which is what you do in a dictatorship). Evangelicals have decided the same thing! Lets support them so we can get our religious agenda implemented as law while we have a chance. Problem is, this scenario has played out before has it not?

For instance, the news that children of undocumented immigrants will be put in warehouses? The appropriate response would be to have a blockade of protestors surrounding those warehouses, and actually SAVING those children from the abuse you KNOW is going to happen or has already happened. Isn't that what should have happened during the Nazi regime? Good people storming the concentration camps, ripping the fences down and saving the Jewish people? They didn't do that though and now history asks why were the German people complicit. The resistance needs to be as outrageous and loud as the offenders - and it needs to have teeth. Polite is what is not working. It took WW2 to bring the Nazis down. I am a firm believer that Trump's administration and supporters ARE Nazis. It is the same formula and it is going in the same direction. Yes - we need to vote them out of office now and support our candidates loudly and brashly until OUR heroes are the ones getting the 24/7 coverage with the American people being moved off of their couches and chairs and deciding THEY want to join the heroes because they want to BE the heroes. THIS Works! Note the loud boycotting that has forced companies to come out and disavow racism as well as the NRA.

We still have laws, we still have the ability to vote. But if we do not stop the current direction of this regime, the next phase of resistance will not be as convenient.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

36. Wow...so many good points in one post. Asked

My mom who lived through WW2 what people thought about Hitler and his treatment of Jews in the leadup to the war and before people knew about the mass atrocities. She said that they didn't know what was going on and no one talked about it. If you liken it to trump it's probably all the people who watch Fox that don't know the full extent of Trump's crimes. Do they even allow Dems on their network? Or are we just not asking to be on?

If we can't get on Fox then we should be advertising for sure. And nothing tres inflammatory...I picture an ad with kids swimming and people fishing. Followed by a message that trump and GOP support the roll back of clean water legislation..call them now because we don't want to go back to this...end with a company dumped waste into a river.

[ravencalling]

62. Thank you!

My Mom is a Trump supporter now. She has been a life long liberal, but she is against immigrants due to some personal issues she had with them when she managed apartments. Once she made up her mind that he was okay - that was that and any other news was "Fake News". Second time I heard "Fake News" I shut down. It broke my heart. But it is what it is.

However she loves cats! So if there were an ad focused on cats and pets and animal welfare - that asked, do you love cats? Well Trump doesn't. He believes having pets is low class - then change over the picture of his son with the dead elephant. "He believes THIS is high class." My mom could still say it was fake news but I KNOW it would get right to her.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

69. You my dear have hit the nail on the head. It's exactly

what Beto is doing in Texas..finding the common core human values that good people agree on. The basics...we want clean water. We care about living things (like your mom). We want all sick people no matter what their social status to be able to see a doctor

..and many more.

[ck4829]

37. Haha... yep, been there too.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

46. Weird how some people's minds go automatically to "let me tell that

person that they are wrong." Instead of "interesting theory, why do think that way?" "Or, here's the problem I see with your idea, how could we get around that?"

[beachbum bob]

51. Working with who?..

[Laura PourMeADrink]

55. If you look at Gallup approval tracking chart Trump's

Back to where he was right after his selection. If you listen to focus groups they think we are trying to reverse the election and are piling on. Think you can just say it's all bullshit or bad polls...but if you don't it's showing a trend. And a reasonable person could deduce that trumpco propaganda machine is working

[Eliot Rosewater]

53. I dont know what you are referring to as a thread here? But let me say something simple

ANYTHING other than voting for ANY democrat, or for that matter the Democrat most likely to win no matter their politics

ANYTHING else right now is irresponsible and will HELP the NAZIS in the White House.

ANY criticism right now of the D party ONLY helps the NAZIS. The PROOF of that is the attacks of Nancy Pelosi.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

63. ER yikes...lots of caps :). I don't really think of any

Of the ideas as criticism...but more like things to do to improve message delivery. Are you saying that would be helping the Nazis? Big leap? How would it help them?

[RandomAccess]

54. I'm with you --

we desperately need exactly what Jill Wine-Banks said, and we need it to be "official," not just someone here and someone there.

I'm thinking (as one idea) a weekly press conference specifically designated to counter the lies -- and call it exactly that. I'm also thinking put some pressure on CNN and MSNBC at least to cover it live. Make it very dynamic, very on point, very fast-moving, and whatever else is needed to have it make its mark.

I think I'll send a fax to Schumer and Pelosi.

Anyone care to join me??

Call 24/7: 202-224-3121
Free Faxes (can incl up to 3 pages attached) to Senators: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php
Free Faxes (ditto) to Congress: https://faxzero.com/fax_congress.php
TEXT your faxes: Text RESIST to 50409
Write your MoC - DEMOCRACY.IO https://democracy.io/#/

[Laura PourMeADrink]

56. Yes!! Excellent idea... except we have to get it on

Fox so those viewers can see. Perfect time would be right after Huckster's press conference. I know wingnuts watch that each day.

[RandomAccess]

57. That's a good idea too,

except she'd cancel or something. LOL.

[Wwcd]

60. Haahaaa..I'm sure Fox or something would be thrilled to give Pelosi or Schumer airtime

Whoosh..

Yes. Maybe you could try calling Fox & set it up.

[AdamGG]

70. If you want Fox to pick it up, maybe present it in a 30 second summary from the catheterized cowboy

like John Oliver does

[smirkymonkey]

61. K&R

[Blue_true]

67. Ahhhh, grave dancing feels good huh?

You frontran the issue and have been proven right. Keep up the good work.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

72. no